Opportunities and Challenges in the Governance of Planet Ocean

There is growing recognition that the oceans are crucial to global sustainability and play a key equilibrating role in global climate as the primary sink for excess heat and carbon present in the global climate system and represent a vital repository and supporter of global biological diversity. Coastal and ocean areas are the drivers for the global economy, especially through sea-borne trade as well as via a rising ‘Blue Economy’ around the world, and play a crucial and increasingly important role in global food security. These areas are therefore of critical importance across scales, from the global to the regional, national and sub-national coastal community levels.

The oceans are also increasingly under threat, notably as a result of enhanced competition for coastal and marine resources, and intense and diverse uses of coastal and marine spaces, threatening their sustainability. All too frequently this competition leads to friction and tension among marine users and incompatible spatial and temporal overlaps between uses of ocean space. The impacts of climate change on the oceans further compound these issues.